A mere lessee

Dear Ms. Villanueva:

We would like to take exception to your column item in today’s ( June 3) issue of The Philippine STAR titled “From Global City to Smart City,” particularly on the portion wherein SM Aura was partly mentioned about legal issues with the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA).

To set things straight, SM Aura is neither a locator at the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) nor owes the BCDA P5 billion “as proceeds from the sale of the former military land property that under the country’s laws must accrue to the AFP modernization program.”

SM Aura was built and is located outside the BGC area or the property owned by the BCDA. SM is not in anyway under any agreement with BCDA as The Aura sits on a parcels of land owned by the Taguig City government.

SM entered into Contracts of Lease with Taguig City government on Nov. 21, 2007 and August 1, 2008 for the lease of the property and its development into a government office/hotel/office/retail commercial center/complex after winning a public bidding.

The property which the city government of Taguig leased to SM was part of the parcels of land that BCDA transferred to Taguig City by virtue of a Deed of Conveyance based on a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) which both parties signed on February 11, 2004 relative to an encroachment issue with the American Battle Monument Cemetery. In the Deed of Conveyance, BCDA agrees to convey to Taguig City the equivalent area of the encroached land through another property in Fort Bonifacio.

SM entered into the picture as a mere lessee of the property that is already owned by the local city government of Taguig and not BCDA. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense saying that BCDA has P5-billion claims from SM Aura as proceeds from the sale of the former military land property that under the country’s laws must accrue to the AFP modernization program.

There is a separate case between SM Land and BCDA which remains pending in court. We cannot discuss the same because of the sub judice rule. — Atty. RYAN SAN JUAN, MOA Arena Annex Bldg., Coral Way, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City